Sunday, July 31, 2016

Equanimity
is not insensitivity, indifference, or apathy. It is simply
nonpreferential. Under its influence, one does not push aside the things
one dislikes or grasp at the things one prefers. The mind rests in an
attitude of balance and acceptance of things as they are.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Equanimity
takes interest in whatever is occurring simply because it is occurring.
Equanimity does not include aversive states of indifference, boredom,
coldness, or hesitation. It is an expression of calm, radiant balance
that takes whatever comes in stride.

“If we are able to be
honest enough to admitour lies, the process of transformation and
healing that will allow us to exit the vicious cycle of suffering has
already begun. This is the beginning of transcendence. While we are in
this stage, we can no longer tolerate lying for very long. Many times,
we can’t even sleep because we have already seen that, at one point, we
will have to jump. We know that there is a pothole on our path and we
will have to have the courage to jump. So, what robs us of our sleep is
fear.”

In
meditating with the body as our guide, we come to feel that, perhaps
for the first time in our lives, we are in the presence of a being, our
own body, that is wise, loving, flawlessly reliable, and, strange to
say, worthy of our deepest devotion.

“Some people run after wealth to escape the feeling of poverty. Some
even build empires, but don’t get to enjoy any of it because they are
tormented by their fear to lose it all. At some point, this kind of
wealth will have to fall because it is only when it falls away that a
person will have to face their fear of scarcity. This is a psychic law.
Everything that is built from a mask or a pretense will have to, one
day, fall. All the temporary layers built out of trying to hide from
something will be torn to shreds.”

When
we turn diligence into an intellectual process, we end up feeling
exhausted by the intensity of the obligation. But if we respond the way
the eyelid responds to a dry eye, then the work of peace naturally
arises out of our innate wisdom and compassion.

In the Quaker tradition, the intuitive voice is called “The still, small
voice within,” because the sensing and thinking mind are always
blaring, and they have something to say about everything. To hear that
little voice is a very delicate tuning, and that’s part of what
meditation is about, learning about and how to read tracks that resonate
with that place inside.
And so you listen the best you can, and then you act from the best the
deepest place that you can hear.

Democrats ratified a party platform late Monday called
the most LGBT-inclusive in history and a unifying document after a
bitter primary. As convention chair Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) presided,
delegates at the Democratic National Convention approved the platform
by voice vote. Although loud “nays” were heard, the overwhelming “yays”
in favor of the platform carried the day.

The 55-page document has a specific LGBT plank titled “Guaranteeing
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights” and includes LGBT
references in planks throughout the document.

The LGBT plank endorses LGBT comprehensive non-discrimination
legislation (although it doesn’t explicitly address the Equality Act by
name), condemns violence against transgender people, endorses the U.S.
Supreme Court decision in favor of same-sex marriage and repudiates
state laws seeking to undermine LGBT rights.“Democrats applaud last year’s decision by the Supreme Court that
recognized that LGBT people — like other Americans — have the right to
marry the person they love,” the platform says. “But there is still much
work to be done. LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school,
restaurants can refuse to serve transgender people, and same-sex couples
are at risk of being evicted from their homes. That is unacceptable and
must change.”

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The
relationship of religion to truth is like that of a menu to a meal. The
menu describes the meal as best it can. It points to something beyond
itself. As long as we use the menu as a guide we do it honor. When we
mistake the menu for the meal, we do it and ourselves a grave injustice.

“Many suffer because they don’t know what their
gifts and talents are. There are many that already recognize their
gifts and talents yet still feel empty and isolated. They have not yet
found the purpose for which they wake up in the morning. What really
allows for the feeling of fulfillment is the awareness of our soul’s
purpose. When we have this awareness, we use our gifts and talents to do
what needs to be done. When we recognize our purpose, our capabilities
multiply and transform in order for us to fulfill our soul’s objective.”

“Complaining is a symptom born from ingratitude. The lack of gratitude
attracts many imbalances and misfortunes to our lives, including
illnesses. However, it is not always possible to see that a particular
disease is related to ingratitude. Our work, as explorers of
consciousness, is to identify what is behind these symptoms, because
they are portals to the unconscious.”

When
we are awakened to simplicity and humility and aware of the suffering
engendered by greed, hatred, and ignorance, our consciousness is
restructured. We become mindful about ourselves and others, and
naturally try to restructure society.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Wisdom
sees the joke in everything. Wisdom is never upset. When you see the
truth, it’s easy to laugh. You can be going through something really
difficult, but when you really understand, you can laugh.

“An authentic master is presence, and his presence awakens the presence
in us. Even though his words carry significance and are meaningful, they
are not the most important aspect of his work. The deeper aspect of his
work is his presence. Just one look is enough to transform us. The
spiritual master is a doorway to access the higher realms. Everything
the human entity in evolution does is to arrive at this doorway. When
the grace of the master touches you, it means that your emancipation is
close at hand.”

The
only way one really gets any of the most important benefits of
meditation practice is by giving up on the notion that there are any
benefits to meditation practice.— Brad Warner, "Goalless Practice"

“The first step towards
sanity is becoming aware of our insanity. Our insanity manifests in
different forms, for example when we consume unnecessarily, moved only
by our addiction and the unconscious collective. Insanity is producing
more and more waste without thinking of its consequences. It is also
when we promote animal slaughter through our eating habits or when we
put even more children in this world without at least questioning why we
are having them. When we act only out of our own self-interest even if
this attitude is harmful to others, this is insanity.

Whenever
we find fault with others, whether through anger, contemptuousness,
self-righteousness, or gossip, it is often based in fear. We may not be
aware of our fears, but when we look deeply, we may discover the fear of
rejection, loss of control, of unworthiness, or the fear of
disconnection.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

If
you have self-hatred, it will define the quality of your love - or lack
of love - and it will ultimately manifest in your love for another. You
may protest upon hearing this teaching that although you struggle with
self-hatred, your love for your spouse is mostly pure, and that
certainly your love of your children is pure. I do not doubt the truth
of your protestations, but experience has shown me that in the end there
is only one love. Love is by its very nature unity, and if you have
feelings of self-loathing, those feelings inevitably become part of your
relationship with the loved one.

Love is abundant because you are love. As you become love, you get to
the point where you walk down the street and someone comes, and it is
the most beautiful thing that you have ever seen. You look and look and
appreciate and love, your eyes meet, you both recognize the love, and
you don’t have to do anything about it.

It’s nothing special to be in love, it’s very ordinary. How alien that
is in this culture, to think that being in love with the Universe is
ordinary.

“We move in the direction of freedom
through love and understanding. These are virtues of the soul that
blossom gradually. In order to facilitate this process, we, as the
conscious ego, must truly want freedom. We need to consciously take
steps in the direction of love and understanding. The first step is to
become aware of our dissatisfactions and face them, as well as our
anxieties and negative repetitions. It is only possible to change that
which we recognize needs to shift.”

Our
hearts and minds change from moment to moment, just as clouds shift in
the evening sky as the sun goes down. Who are we to think we have
grasped the true nature of our souls? The Buddha-mind within us will not
be constrained by the limits of language.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Adding extra deliciousness to an
already entertaining plagiarism scandal is that journalist Jarrett Hill,
who first picked up on it, belongs to two of the GOP’s most-reviled
minorities. Via the New York Times:

Mr. Hill, a television journalist who was recently laid
off, said in an interview that one of Ms. Trump’s lines — the words
“strength of your dreams” — caught his attention as he was watching on
his computer from a Starbucks in Los Angeles, juggling Facebook chats
and browsing Twitter.

“It kind of made me pause for a minute,” Mr. Hill said. “I remembered that line from Michelle Obama’s speech.”

Mr. Hill, 31, found the clip of Mrs. Obama’s speech online and
noticed that parts of the two speeches sounded the same. He then
realized that a larger portion appeared to have been borrowed as he
continued to examine both.

“I thought, ‘That’s legit plagiarism,’ ” said Mr. Hill, who described
himself as a supporter of President Obama. “‘Someone took this piece
and plugged in their own information.’”

Hill appeared on CNN this afternoon to defend himself from wingnut claims that he’s a “paid plant from the Clinton campaign.”

“Sometimes, what prevents us from manifesting our
gifts and talents to help accomplish our higher purpose is the fear of
embracing the greatness ofour soul. Often times, the biggest fear is not
of feeling pain, but rather to go past it and to encounter something
beyond the dominion of the ego and the mind, surpassing all of our
reference points. We are afraid to move in the direction of the unknown,
towards something that we have not yet mastered. Even if it is
everything we desire. Even though it is extremely pleasurable to grow,
to expand and develop our strength, we still fear this. We are afraid of
being free. However, fulfilling the purpose of the soul is
intrinsically related to freedom.”

Monday, July 18, 2016

Because of republican / evangelical opposition to the GLBTq community, I left my own country to stay with my husband.

>> I will pause here to let that sink in <<

Luckily he is Brazilian and in 2010, Brasil allowed spouses of GLBTq Brazilians to immigrate. In fact, because of our PHD's they wanted us!

Over 12 years, it cost us well over $30,000.00 for my husband to stay in the USA legally,and it just became too expensive, and to be honest we were tired of being treated as less than 2nd class citizens. So we decided to sell everything (in the process we lost our home - a 22 year investment down the tube - in a short sale because the BUSH government destroyed the economy) and immigrated to a country that, with all its problems, respects marriage equality.

Thank you / Obrigado Brasil!

As someone who has been traveling and living off and on in Latin America since 1980, and who has lived overseas now for almost 6 years, and has been voting by mail-in ballot... all I can say is shame on the USA for even thinking of this Trump regime! And shame on anyone who enables it!

Trump-Pence will be the final and complete end to any form of democracy left in the USA. Astonishing how some former Berners and republicans will gladly throw their GLBTQ family, colleagues, neighbors, acquaintances under the bus for this extremist right wing tea party evangelical FoxTV Nazi party!

As someone who has lived in numerous countries in Latin America, the USA has created shit storm after shit storm here… (creating even more illegal immigration!). The last one being Iran-Contra in Nicaragua and Guatemala, where over a million people died in THAT forgotten republican intervention, and where the instability left from it still lingers.

I could not, will not, cannot EVER vote for ANY republican… because of their egregious foreign policy - IRAQ being the last time we made this mistake - and because of their homophobia.

I want to update you with the work Faith In America accomplished this last week.

California’s SB 1146:

In the last two years, over 70+ Christian Universities and Colleges have
submitted for Title IX exemptions. These Title IX exemption requests
are in direct response to the Department of Education’s inclusion of
transgender students in 2014. This new bill would require three things:

1. Schools must disclose their request for a Title IX exemption to
prospective and current students, faculty members, and employees.

2. All schools requesting the Title IX exemption are required to submit
all the documents to the Student Aid Commission which will in turn list
the schools on their website.

3. LGBT students at any of these Christian schools would be eligible to file a civil suit for discrimination.

“These schools should have to be transparent with their students and
constituency,” I wrote. “If these institutions feel comfortable
requesting a right to discriminate then they should also feel
comfortable defending their decision publicly. Just as the schools have
their legal right to discriminate so should the students have the right
to private legal action when discriminated against. This may lead to
Christian institutions losing federal funding. That’s a good thing. No
private institution should be able to receive government assistance
while breaking its nondiscrimination laws.”

The GOP continues to push a violate anti-LGBT agenda. First, noted
anti-LGBT Tony Perkins influenced the GOP to include conversion therapy
in their platform. This adoption of this outdated and explicitly
condemned practice should be seen as an act of violence towards LGBT
people, especially LGBT youth.

Faith In America told ABC News the following: "The addition of conversion therapy in
the GOP’s platform shows they’re far from finished fighting against the
LGBT community," Faith in America executive director Eliel Cruz said in
a statement. "Conversion therapy has been denounced by all leading
medical organizations. The practice stems from a religious-based archaic
understanding of sexuality that believes homosexuality is a choice and
is sinful."

Next, Republican frontrunner Donald Trump selected Governor Mike Pence
as his Vice President running mate. This selection proves what many LGBT
advocates have been saying for a while: Donald Trump is just as
dangerous for LGBT people as any of the other Republican candidates.

“Governor Mike Pence has an atrocious anti-LGBT record,” said Eliel
Cruz, executive director for Faith in America, which fights
religious-based bigotry. “His bigoted anti-LGBT law cost the state
millions of dollars while allowing businesses to discriminate against
LGBT citizens. In choosing him as a VP, Trump is proving what we’ve
known all along: He’s no friend to the LGBT community.”

United Methodist Church LGBT Clergy Inclusion:

For some good news! The United Methodist Church made history in electing
the first openly gay bishop. Reverend Karen Oliveto was elected by the
Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church last Friday evening.
This nomination goes in direct conflict with the decision made at the
General Conference of the world Church in which the United Methodists
voted against allowing openly LGBT clergy to serve.

"The United Methodist Church is the second largest Protestant
denomination in the United States. Last night, they became the largest
Protestant denomination with an openly gay Bishop. In electing Rev.
Karen Oliveto, the Western Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church
performed civil disobedience against the world church. This is historic.
It’s also an act of spiritual protest against a homophobic policy that
denies openly LGBT clergy from ministry. This election shows the UMC is
changing and that the Holy Spirit is moving the church towards justice."

“When we identify a pattern
of negative behavior that creates conflict through stubbornness, an
addiction to fighting, defending points of views, and the need to always
have the last word, we might see that underlying all of this, exists an
unconscious pact of revenge. Perhaps we are projecting our past on the
person we are in relationship with, as though trying to force our
parents to listen to us, to accept us, to love us. As we observe the
suffering and the distress this causes in our life and in the lives of
those around us, we begin to want to change. Gradually, before we accept
the invitation to war, we hold our tongues and we choose to stop acting
out of this pattern.”

To
understand that others are so much like oneself creates a different
perspective, a startlingly changed worldview. When this is internalized,
you are not confronting another divide, but meeting someone with whom
you have so much in common. You feel you know the person.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Yesterday RNC chairman Reince
Priebus flatly denied that ex-gay torture is part of the 2016 GOP
platform even though it was preliminarily approved last week thanks to
Tony Perkins. From the Associated Press:

Priebus denied that language inserted into a draft of the
party platform encourages “conversion therapy,” which religious
conservatives believe can stop gay people from being gay. The new
language, which has yet to be adopted by the full convention, reads, “We
support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or
therapy, for their minor children.”

Asked whether the Republican Party supports “conversion therapy,”
Priebus charged, “It’s not in the platform.” GOP officials are eager to
shift the focus of next week’s event away from divisive social issues.
Such issues, while popular with conservatives who wield outsize
influence in Republican primary contests, are less popular among the
more moderate voters and independents who typically decide general
elections.

An amendment offered by the Family Research Council’s
Tony Perkins in the subcommittee on healthcare, education, and crime
offered support for the controversial practice of “conversion therapy”
for children who identify as LGBT.

“We support the right of parents to determine the proper treatment or
therapy, for their minor children,” the amendment said. Perkins
originally drafted a more explicit embrace of the practice, but amended
the text after consultations with top RNC officials.

Perkins also won a bid to add the word “therapy” to the
platform, making it read “we support the right of parents to determine
the proper medical treatment or therapy for their minor children.” That
was read as a move to allow conversion therapy, a controversial practice
that attempts to convert youths away from being gay, that has been
banned by some state and local governments.

“It’s what it says, it’s whatever therapy that a parent wants to get
for a minor child,” Perkins said when asked about the change. “There’s
states that are trying to restrict what parents can do for loving their
children. Parents have a better idea I think than legislators or
government bureaucrats.”

The cited language is ambiguous and does not expressly
identify conversion by name, but many onlookers nonetheless believe
there is no other reasonable interpretation of Perkins’ proposal. The
draft faces at least two more tests before officially becoming part the
party’s platform, and thus far its myriad issues remained unapproved.

“Every four years gay Republicans
slime out from under their rocks to remind us that the Democratic
candidate wasn’t always perfect on LGBT issues. They then implicitly
(and sometimes explicitly) pivot to this nonsensical argument: Since
your guy/gal wasn’t always perfect on LGBT issues, the LGBT community should vote for the Republican who was terrible on LGBT issues then, is terrible on LGBT issues now, and who has pledged, if elected, to remain terrible on LGBT issues forever.“Lying, delusional, self-hating shitbags can’t open their mouths without lying and attempting to delude.

“Every four years we’re subjected to
the same insipid news stories about the efforts of the Log Cabin
Republicans. Credulous reporters, some too young to realize what they’re
being asked to re-regurgitate, tell us gay Republicans are hopeful!
This could be the year! This could be the the year their nominee doesn’t
return their checks! This could be the year their nominee doesn’t
refuse to meet with them! This could be the year their nominee doesn’t
deny the existence of their families! Gay Republicans are praised for
trying to ‘change their party from within’ and then…

“Nothing changes. Their party never
changes. All the GOP candidates for president take the same old bigoted
positions. It never gets any better. But no one who writes up the
efforts of Log Cabin Republicans to change their party ever thinks to
examine the results. There’s never an accountability moment for the
cocksucking wing of the ‘party of personal responsibility’.” – Dan Savage, writing for The Stranger.

“Due to traumas of
humiliation, exclusion, and rejection, the human entity develops
self-defense mechanisms. These mechanisms create a negative energetic
current that we often refer to as the ‘no’ current. At the core, these
‘no’s’ are pacts of revenge against those who have hurt us. They are a
foolish way of getting even because these pacts of revenge wind up
creating a series of situations that lead us to suffering. We believe
that by taking revenge we can change the past. However, the past doesn’t
change. It can only be understood and given new meaning through our own
self-knowledge.”

I think in relationships, you create an environment with your own work
on yourself, which you offer to another human being to use to grow in
the way they need to grow. Parents are environments for their children,
lovers are an environment for their partners.

You keep working – you become the soil – moist and soft and receptive so
the person can grow the way they need to grow, because how do you know
how they should grow?

Today I heard a news commentator say that Trump has a “more moderate”
view towards gay rights. Perhaps in relation to Mike Pence, that is
true, but Trump is no friend to the LBBT community, nor is the
Republican Party. I share this so you have accurate information. The Republication party has concluded its platform with two extreme anti-gay planks: 1) Marriage should only be between a man and a woman and encouraging overturning the Supreme Court case legalizing same-sex marriage
2) Based on the lead by the Family Research Council, "conversion" or
"reparative therapy," which purports to "cure" homosexual inclinations
through analysis and, frequently, prayer has been endorsed. With that,
parents are given the right to decide the proper treatment for their
children in this regard. These concepts have been consistently
discredited, and typically criticized. by established mental health
professions Trump has claimed that he knows many gays and lesbians
and “likes the gays and lesbians.” Of course he has said the same about
just about every other group, for example, “the poorly educated” and
disabled. And there’s his one African American man at a recent rally.
While he may like gays and lesbians, he has always opposed same-sex
marriage. Briefly in 2013 he said civil unions would be acceptable, but
he then retreated to opposition to any same sex unions. In an
interview with Chris Wallace this year, Trump said he would appoint
people to the Supreme Court who would overturn the court ruling
legalizing same-sex marriage. Although it would be an unusual
circumstance that would even allow the issue to be reconsidered, it is
Trumps beliefs that are concern. Mike Pence’s record is much more
extremely anti-gay/lesbian. Pence believes that the prominence of gay
couples signals inevitable societal collapse. He actively opposes
same-sex marriage. He also opposes legislation that prohibits workplace
discrimination against LGBT people saying it wages war against freedom
and religion in the workplace.” He also objected to the repeal of “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell.” I’m not an one-issue voter, and the Republicans
have given me a lot to not like, not the least of which is the tenuous
mental health of their Presidential candidate, but I’m not going to vote
against myself or risk returning to unacceptable, outmoded and even
dangerous beliefs. I’m voting for Hillary.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

If
someone insults us, we usually dwell on it, asking ourselves, “Why did
he say that to me?” and on and on. It’s as if someone shoots an arrow at
us, but it falls short. Focusing on the problem is like picking up the
arrow and repeatedly stabbing ourselves with it, saying, “He hurt me so
much. I can’t believe he did that.”

“I have faith that the
truth will set Brazil free, but this may only happen in the next
incarnation. In truth, it’s not enough to simply blame corrupt
politicians. We need to change our own habits and mental conditioning.
There is a need for a thorough reform at the foundation of our entire
system, including a cultural reform. In the same way each of us can be
overtaken by certain psychological matrices, this can also happen to a
country. In this moment, Brazil has beenoverwhelmed by selfishness and
vanity.”

“There comes a
moment when it is necessary to simply relax and not have any
expectations in relationship to anything. There comes a moment when even
the desire for enlightenment needs to drop, because even this very
desire becomes an obstacle for us. The part in us that desires
enlightenment is a psychological self that is addicted to controlling
life. It is an idealized self that has outlined a plan of how things
should be. However, when we can really be silent enough to live this
experience, this psychological self will not be there, because silence
is only possible in the absence of this self.”

Actor John Cho poses for
photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Star Trek
Beyond" in London, Tuesday, July 12, 2016.

LOS ANGELES -- The son of late "Star Trek"
creator Gene Roddenberry says his father would have been on board with
an Enterprise crew member being portrayed as gay, but he's unsure if it
should have been helmsman Hikaru Sulu.

Rod Roddenberry said his
father would have been supportive of a gay "Trek" character and
commended the "Star Trek Beyond" filmmakers for featuring an LGBT
character. Roddenberry died in 1991.

The GOP has solidified their stance against LGBT people at their
convention supporting the condemned practice of conversion therapy. This
pseudo science practice is both spiritual and medical malpractice and
actively harms LGBT individuals, especially LGBT youth. Faith In America
thoroughly condemns the adoption of this practice into the GOP
platform.

New York, New York, July 14, 2016
– The Republican National Convention is being used as a tool to further
a bigoted anti-LGBT agenda. Anti-LGBT pundit Tony Perkins used his
influence as an RNC delegate to include dangerous, pseudo-science
“conversion therapy” into the GOP platform.

“The addition of conversion therapy in the GOP’s platform shows they’re
far from finished fighting against the LGBT community,” said Eliel Cruz,
Executive Director of Faith In America. “Conversion therapy has been
denounced by all leading medical organizations. The practice stems from a
religious-based archaic understanding of sexuality that believes
homosexuality is a choice and is sinful. Today, we know that being LGBT
is natural and not something to be ‘cured’ of. The Republican Party has
proven itself once more that it’s the party of religious based
bigotry.”

The language included in the platform does not specifically mention the
words “conversion therapy.” It mentions that parents should be allowed
to seek whatever treatment or therapy they deem fit for their children.
This language extends to “physical and emotional” therapy as well.

“The state intervenes when parents are abusing their children,” Eliel
Cruz said. “Conversion therapy is nothing short of child abuse. There is
ample evidence that shows attempting to change someone’s innate sexual
orientation leads to depression, anxiety, and suicide. Parents who are
willing to put their children at risk to undergo conversion therapy are
abusing their children.”

Faith In America condemns the RNC’s decision to include conversion
therapy in their GOP platform. Faith In America supports a national ban
on conversion therapy.

About Faith In America: Established in 2006, Faith In
America is a non-profit organization whose ultimate goal is to end
decades and centuries of using religious teachings to justify
marginalizing and discriminating against others. We are dedicated to
influencing media and faith community narratives on religion and
sexuality. Our goal is to move the needle forward on LGBTQ equality in the pews and in our legislation. Our Mission is to educate the public about the ongoing harm caused to LGBTQ persons, especially youth, by religious-based prejudice. Our dream is
to change the hearts and minds of religious communities on the “sinful”
nature of homosexuality. To remove it permanently from “the sin list.”